Heart of America Marathon
Labor Day heart2.gif (4940 bytes) Columbia, Missouri

1971 Report

Tim Hendricks came back from last years third place finish in the heat and humidity to reclaim the title he won in 1969. Tim becomes the third double winner of HOA along with Bill Silverberg and Ron Daws. The temperature this year was 72 at the start and was around 80 three hours later. It wasn't quite so humid this time, but the bright sun was there as usual. Roman Sage, the 39 year-old inmate from the Missouri State Pen at Jefferson City, sped off to the early lead and did not relinquish that lead until about eleven miles to the group of Hendricks, Don Todaro, and Bob Pelikan who had been moving along together. On Easley Hill, Todaro took over the lead and lengthened it to 45 seconds by 15 miles over Hendricks and Pelikan, and had a one minute margin over Hendricks at 18 miles, Pelikan now having fallen back. At 21 miles Hendricks was 36 seconds back, but that margin soon dissolved, with Hendricks finishing strongly. Meanwhile, Lou Fritz was dawdling along in 26th place at the three mile mark, at six miles he was eleventh, then was soon up to sixth and then fifth. At 24 miles he was in fourth, but he sped the last two miles plus in 13:10, picking up three minutes on Pelikan and almost five on Todaro. For CTC Don Granberg improved his HOA time by sixteen minutes, Paul Ide race-walked the course at better than ten minute pace and Darrell Palmer stuck it out to the end. Ben Londeree, an Exercise Physiologist at MU has just moved from Indiana.